Yesterday, a very serious problem has arisen. In the CWE/Plasma source for the client is a file (Plasma/FeatureLib/pfSurface/plLayerBink.cpp) that a Cyantist nearly verbatim copied from the Bink SDK by RAD Game Tools which is released under a proprietary license. By releasing the source under the GPL, Cyan has violated the license agreement with RAD Game Tools. Now, RAD Game Tools will seriously prosecute Cyan if this file is not removed *immediately*.

Thus, the file I mentioned has to be completely removed out of the whole history of every existing fork (there are 38 at least on GitHub, more on Bitbucket and OpenURU) of the source. In an attempt to solve this nearly impossible problem, we are also forced to supply an emergency update as soon as the file is gone from our source.

I hope to release this update until this weekend. Here is an overview of what will change (and might even break the client):

We will remove everything connected to Bink until an open source solution is found, i.e.: The TOC startup age will either be removed or adjusted and the Intro videos will be ignored.

We are switching to the VC2012 runtime. I hope to make the transition smooth for the players but you might have to run a new installer (I plan to release with/after the update) and maybe even reinstall the TOC client.

Due to some changes in my build environment, XP players could experience problems with the client. I hope I can react to bug reports as soon as possible.

Also some good news: The latest (awesome) fixes and improvements by the H-uru/GoW devs, that will also be released on the Gehn shard soon, will be included in this update.

I hope everything will work as smoothly and comfortable as possible but I'm sorry for any inconvenience that might come up in an emergency situation like that.

Lustige Randnotiz: Außerdem darf Cyan wegen der GPL-Lizenz keinen Client veröffentlichen der nicht Open Source ist. Ergo müssen sie möglichst bald Bink aus MOULa entfernen und selbst dort werden dann die Videos fehlen. Ihre Bink-Lizenz ist dann sowieso umsonst.------Also in English, if you're interested:This is not really Cyan's fault, at least not directly. Cyan owns a completely legal Bink license, but the Cyan programmer of these parts did not mark the files (e.g. with commentaries) as copied, back then. Now, Cyan has probably <10 employees and Chogon (or whoever) could not know that the file has been "stolen" and will now violate a license when he checked the source code before they released it. RAD noticed that and now all developers have to fix the issue. And that even (see update2 in the first post) for the second time...

Funny side-note: Furthermore, Cyan may, because of the GPL license, not release a client without source. Thus, they have to remove Bink too as soon as possible and the videos in MOULa will be missing. Their Bink license will be useless anyway, then.

Indeed there is. Until we do not have a client that does not violate a license, we cannot distribute it.The installer included an older version of the client that would still have those Bink cpp files in it and it would also violate the GPL as we may not distribute a client without it's source.

Mystler wrote:Indeed there is. Until we do not have a client that does not violate a license, we cannot distribute it.The installer included an older version of the client that would still have those Bink cpp files in it and it would also violate the GPL as we may not distribute a client without it's source.

But I don't understand why remove it before there is a new one for its place?

Okay, Mystler, your version is the official version. What Seppolo tried to say, there might be an unofficial version, for which reasons soever?

Regarding OpenUru to me there are some big mysteriums. Maybe somebody can clear them up (maybe I should post this in a more appropriate forum?):

Before Cyan World Inc. handled over the game to the Open Source team they had to check the contents against licences from third parties, of course. And because they knew to which companies they paid licence fees, it were been an easy thing to address to these companies and ask them to check the contents for violating their interests. And because the game (parts of it) was going to become Open Source, that would be possible without violating the interests of Cyan World Inc. -- Why did this not happen in the past but does in the present? I think it is missing respect for the OpenUru team!

We have Cavcon, we have Cavcon parties, we have prayer mill like appeals to donate. But why shall I donate to a service which is driven by a commercial company? That's not donating, that's paying a fee, even it is free up to me paying! Either Cyan World Inc. builds a group of volunteers inside or the financial aspect of this game service remains their problem.BTW I already donated long ago for full ten month (March till December). I am not an experienced online user, so I cannot tell what would be a fair amount. I can tell the amount, if anybody wishes, and we can discuss whether it was enough money or not. But it seems to me the level of donating to Cyan World Inc. is a further mysterium.

What has OpenUru to do with Cyan World Inc.? Why must we players fetch every new developed game version from the Myst Online servers. There has to be a static, unchanged game version provided from Cyan World Inc. The OpenUru team releases a patcher which we player run over the Cyan's static, unchanged game client and then we get the newest OpenUru client which we can play without Cyan World Inc. Why shall Cyan World Inc. get profits from the latest improvements from the OpenUru team? IMO "Myst Online: Uru Live" is still a commercial figurehead of Cyan World Inc.!

So this is my view of the things around OpenUru. I do not want to offend anybody, just published my thoughts!